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"Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him"- The Prophetess Andraste's last words before her execution during the Imperial March, Dragon Age: Origins

In the world of Dungeons and Dragons, mages, warriors, thieves and healers exist alongside one another in a balance and harmony. But still, there are some who fear the power the mages possess. And so, a century ago, in secret, began The Order. The Order is a secret society of mage-hunters known as Templars. They are trained in a special kind of fighting style that allows them to kill and hunt arcane casters. (The Order respects and does not interfere with divine casting ever, as it is the will of the Gods that permits it).

To become a templar requires the discipline of a warrior, as well as the conviction of a religious individual. Life as a templar will not be easy, but it will be much easier when a templar faces down a demon or a mage for him to save himself than a normal fighter.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A templar is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, plus his deity's favored weapon if it is exotic, and with light, medium, and heavy armor, and shields (including tower shields).

Smite Arcanist (Su): The templar is a mage hunter. He is able to call upon the power of his god to deliver a powerful attack to incapacitate his arcane foes as quickly as possible. The templar is able to deliver 1 Smite Arcanist attack per class level per encounter. Against a creature who is able to cast arcane spells, or a creature with spell-like abilities that also appear on the wizard/sorcerer spell list, the templar may add his Charisma modifier to his melee attack roll and deal 2 extra points of damage per class level. If he accidentally uses his Smite attempt on a creature that is not an arcanist, the extra damage is not dealt, but the use is not wasted.

Imbued Smite (Su): The templar knows that a mage isn't down for the count just because you hit him really hard. The templar's smite attacks carry powerful divine magic that interrupt the mage's effectiveness. When a templar Smites an arcanist, he may also force the arcanist to make a saving throw (DC 10+his class level+his Charisma modifier) or suffer an effect.

At level 1, the templar can Smite the mage's DC. The mage must make a Will save or have his casting stat treated as half of its true value for the purposes of determining the save DC allowed by his spells only. It does not affect the highest level of spell he can cast nor his bonus spells per day. (For example, if a wizard with 16 Intelligence failed his saving throw against this effect, the DC for all his spells would be 9+spell level instead of 13+spell level). This effect lasts for one minute. A second Smite resets the duration but does not halve the stat again.

At level 3, the templar can attempt to rip a hole in the arcanist's nervous system and disrupt his ability to move as finely as he needs to. The mage must make a Fortitude save or suffer a 50% spell failure chance for all arcane spells he casts with somatic components. (This ability does not affect spell-like abilities, as they have no somatic components). The effect lasts for one minute. A second Smite resets the duration but does not stack the failure chance.

At level 5, the templar strikes where it really hurts, the arcanist's reserves of spellpower. The arcanist must make a Will save or have its caster level for all spells and spell-like abilities become half of their normal amount for one minute. A second Smite resets the duration but does not stack the effect. This ability only affects spells the arcanist attempts to cast during the duration, not spells he may already have active.

At level 7, the templar is able to damage the arcanist's vocal chords, rendering him completely unable to cast spells. The arcanist must make a Reflex save or suffer a 100% spell failure chance with any spell that has a verbal component (the arcanist is also completely unable to communicate verbally). This effect, as it represents serious physical injury, has no duration, and instead ends when the arcanist receives magical healing from any source equal to or greater than the amount of damage the templar's Smite attack dealt. (This need not be from one source. For example, if a templar dealt 14 damage with a Smite attack, and the wizard received 13 points of healing from a cure light wounds spell, he would still be unable to cast. But if he then recovered 1 more hit point from a cure minor wounds spell, he would be fine, regardless of how long it had been since his throat was slit.) After failing a saving throw against this Imbued Smite, the same arcanist cannot be affected by the same Smite effect until the first one has been healed.

Detect Magic (Sp): The templar can detect magic, as the spell, as a spell-like ability at will. His caster level is equal to his character level, and is not affected by his Mage-Slayer feat or any other feat that lists Mage-Slayer as a prerequisite.

Nullify Magic (Ex): The templar is a being of cleansing. His body, reflexes, and mind are tuned to be unaffected by weaker magic. Starting at 2nd level, if the templar succeeds a saving throw against an arcane spell or any spell-like ability, he receives no effect from that spell even if it normally dealt half damage or some kind of partial effect on a successful save. Additionally, the templar receives Spell Resistance equal to 15+his character level, but it only protects him against arcane spells or spell-like abilities.

Divine Blessing (Su): The templar is blessed by his god in order to protect him while he completes his quest to suppress magic. The templar receives a bonus equal to his Charisma modifier to all saving throws against arcane spells and all spell-like abilities. This bonus stacks with similar bonuses, such as the paladin's Divine Grace, the blackguard's Dark Blessing, and even the hexblade's Arcane Resistance ability.

Divine Rejection (Sp): The templar is trained to fight and capture mages, but in the long run, magic must defeat magic. Starting at 6th level, the templar gains the ability to cast greater dispel magic as a spell-like ability at will, with the following changes: His caster level is equal to his character level and is not affected by his Mage-Slayer feat or any other feat that lists Mage-Slayer as a prerequisite, and he may only use the targeted dispel ability. To target an enemy, the templar must make a ranged touch attack, with a maximum range of 100 ft. The templar receives a +5 bonus on dispel checks made to dispel magical effects or suppress magical items that grant the user a fly speed.

Templar's Clarity (Ex): The templar cannot be fooled by magic. Starting at 8th level, the templar becomes immune to all spells and spell-like abilities of the illusion school. (Unlike the templar's other abilities, this ability includes divine spells as well) He suffers no miss chance against a mage who protects himself with an illusion spell that grants a miss chance such as mirror image, blur, or displacement and always disbelieves illusions with the Will(Disbelief) saving throw descriptor. He sees through disguises made by the illusion school and through invisibility as if he were under a constant true seeing effect.

Divine Retribution (Su): The templar's ultimate technique allows him to turn the power of the wicked arcanists against themselves. Starting at 9th level, once per encounter the templar may target a 5 foot square that is within 60 feet of him as a standard action. A brilliant white light erupts from it, and all creatures who cast arcane spells or who have spell-like abilities take 1d8 damage per class level (A successful Reflex save halves the damage, the DC is 10+class level+Charisma modifier), and immediately loses a prepared spell, spell slot, or daily use of a spell-like ability of the highest level of spell/spell-like ability the arcanist is able to cast (no save). Then, each arcanist must make a Fortitude save (The DC for this is equal to that particular arcanist's saving throw for the spell/spell slot/spell-like ability it lost) or be Stunned for 1 round.

Intervention of the Gods (Su): The templar's final defense is an all-powerful, all-encompassing attack that provides him the single chance he needs to take a mage down. This ability is actually performed by the templar's deity, and can only be performed once per day. Even though it is a supernatural ability, it is not suppressed by anti-magic field or other similar abilities. All magical effects and items within 300 feet of the templar are immediately dispelled or suppressed (no saving throws are allowed), and no creature can cast spells for one full round. This ability encompasses ALL effects within 300 feet of the templar, including aerial spellcasters and creatures/artifacts under the earth. Activating Intervention of the Gods is a free action that may only be performed on the templar's turn, and it lasts for one-full round. Any creature who was in midair and was only kept aloft by a magical item or spell immediately falls to the ground during the templar's turn and takes the appropriate amount of falling damage. At the beginning of the templar's next turn, the effect ends. Creatures with more hit dice than the templar's patron deity are immune to this effect.

Adaptation: If the templar was originally a paladin with the Serenity feat (Dragon Compendium), all of his class features are based on Wisdom instead of Charisma.

Kellus

2011-06-28, 03:16 PM

I like this a lot. The mageslayer is a really common archetype, and this represents it well. I still don't think it'll really be able to keep up with the sheer power and versatiliyy spellcasters have available at high level, but it's much better than most similar classes I've seen before. I am kind of surprised you didn't give it spell resistance.

One thing that I'd change is the Patron Deity requirement. That's really the only campaign-specific thing in this class by mentioning a god by name. You could just change it to 'cannot worship a god who grants the Magic domain' in order to be more accessible.

NeoSeraphi

2011-06-28, 03:28 PM

I like this a lot. The mageslayer is a really common archetype, and this represents it well. I still don't think it'll really be able to keep up with the sheer power and versatiliyy spellcasters have available at high level, but it's much better than most similar classes I've seen before. I am kind of surprised you didn't give it spell resistance.

One thing that I'd change is the Patron Deity requirement. That's really the only campaign-specific thing in this class by mentioning a god by name. You could just change it to 'cannot worship a god who grants the Magic domain' in order to be more accessible.

Spell Resistance! Wow, how did I forget that? But 1st level looks a bit full, so I'll put a scaling spell resistance in at 2nd level. And I didn't even think about the campaign-restrictive implications of mentioning Mishra by name. I'll change that right now, thanks.

Edit: Updated Nullify magic to include a slightly stronger than normal spell resistance that scales with character level, but only applies against arcane spells. Changed the prerequisites to be more general.

Moogleking

2011-06-29, 05:39 AM

Very nice class!

A suggestion; How about an ability akin to Celes' Runic from FF6?

Effectively, you can adopt a defencive stance (Add it to the Total Defence action?) and as long as you hold it any spells cast at you are nullified and you gain a boon from absorbing them. In FF6 it was MP, but how about some kind of enchantment effect? You absorbed a Fireball, your sword now deals +1d6 fire damage. You absorbed a Finger of Death, your sword now has a chance of inflicting instant death on the target. You absorbed a Mindrape, and can now dominate arcane casters. That sort of thing.

Cipher Stars

2011-06-29, 06:19 AM

My only problem is I think you need to make the Imbued 3rd and 7th smites more... Imbued-ish. Less like something any guy wit a fist can do via kick to the neck or something.
Something to do with disrupting the flow of magic within the caster.

NeoSeraphi

2011-06-29, 10:47 AM

Very nice class!

A suggestion; How about an ability akin to Celes' Runic from FF6?

Effectively, you can adopt a defencive stance (Add it to the Total Defence action?) and as long as you hold it any spells cast at you are nullified and you gain a boon from absorbing them. In FF6 it was MP, but how about some kind of enchantment effect? You absorbed a Fireball, your sword now deals +1d6 fire damage. You absorbed a Finger of Death, your sword now has a chance of inflicting instant death on the target. You absorbed a Mindrape, and can now dominate arcane casters. That sort of thing.

While very nice, mechanically speaking, it doesn't fit the ideal of The Order, which is that arcane magic is too powerful for any one man to control or wield. They accept that they must use limited techniques to defeat them, but their magic is tracking and dispelling only. A Templar would not wield arcane energy of any kind, not even against a mage, it's power might tempt him. You have given me an idea though, I'm adding "Cannot Cast Arcane Spells" to the list of prerequisites.

NeoSeraphi

2011-07-19, 01:25 AM

Wow, I just read the Magic Domain. It's actually perfect for templars, so I changed the requirements again. Now it's just non-arcane deities.

Domriso

2011-07-19, 01:58 AM

Love this class. I have no helpful critiques, just an appreciation for the class.
-thumbs up-